SEALED COVER JURISPRUDENCE

• The secrecy could end up preventing a party from having a full overview of the charges against them
• Also, sealed covers are at a fundamental level incompatible with the idea of an open court and a transparent justice system
• the non-disclosure of relevant material to the affected party and its disclosure in a sealed-cover to the adjudicating authority sets a dangerous precedent
• The disclosure of relevant material to the adjudicating authority in a sealed cover makes the process of adjudication vague and opaque
• It Perpetuates two Problems
• Firstly, it denies the aggrieved party their legal right to effectively challenge an order since the adjudication of issues has proceeded on the basis of unshared material provided in a sealed cover
• Secondly, it perpetuates a culture of opaqueness and secrecy, It bestows absolute power in the hands of the adjudicating authority
• It also tilts the balance of power in a litigation in favour of a dominant party which has control over information. Most often than not this is the state
• A judicial order accompanied by reasons is the hallmark of the justice system… The sealed cover procedure affects the functioning of the justice delivery system both at an individual case- to case level and at an institutional level
• The Supreme Court in its judgment clarified that “this is not to say that all information must be disclosed in the public”
• It gave the example of “sensitive information affecting the privacy of individuals such as the identity of a sexual harassment victim”
• But it also underlined that “the measure of nondisclosure of sensitive information in exceptional circumstances must be proportionate to the purpose that the non-disclosure seeks to serve”, and that “the exceptions should not…become the norm”

• In the Rafale aircraft case, the court accepted the government’s argument that the matter pertained to the Official Secrets Act
• While refusing to stay the arrest of activists held in the Bhima-Koregaon case, it relied on “evidence” submitted by the Maharashtra police in a sealed envelope
• In the NRC exercise in Assam  which led to about 19 lakh citizens being excluded from the list,  the apex court sought details from the NRC coordinator in a sealed cover with neither the government nor the affected parties being allowed to look at them
• In the case involving corruption allegations against former CBI director Alok Verma, the court insisted that the Central Vigilance Commission submit its report in a sealed cover, ostensibly to maintain public confidence in the agency
• In the 2G case, in which it had cancelled a large number of licences, the court had relied on sealed covers
• During the hearing in the Chidambaram case, while trying to persuade the court to refer to information in the sealed cover, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had referred to a case from 1997, involving P V Prabhakar Rao, the son of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao